Tooru Hagakure is absent
by hollowmagic
Summary: Katsuki is one of the few people in class to know there's a naked person right next to him.


One day, Tooru Hagakure thought up a plan, one that only she and she alone can accomplish. Of course, she has brought this idea to Aizawa-sensei beforehand, and he half-heartedly agreed. As long as your studies stay in focus, he had said.

Tooru Hagakure's plan commenced.

* * *

Tooru Hagakure is absent.

Or so they'll think.

Tooru made sure to come to school as early as possible. Never in her life did she think she would be here, at the crack of dawn, wearing nothing. Tooru Hagakure is standing in her classroom, the sun barely even up, in the nude. She swallows when she hears footsteps approaching down the empty hall.

Her heart gets lodged in her throat when Katsuki Bakugou slides open the door.

He slams it shut and strides past her, not batting an eye to the empty space. Tooru, silent as ever, watches him plop down at his desk, and hang his bag on the hook. Absent-mindedly, he scrolls through his phone, that trademark glare unchanging.

Tooru sighs with relief in silence.

Ever so cautiously, she takes a few steps closer, tip-toeing in the most careful way possible. The path to Katsuki feels like a minefield. One wrong move, and she's dead. She has never personally experienced Katsuki's blasts, but from her experience from the UA Sports Festival, she believes it can't feel too great.

Just looking at him intimidates her. How does Mina do it? That girl literally latches onto him in the halls cheering, "All aboard the Bakugou train!" while he snarls and wrestles her off of him.

It's like trying to sneak past a wild beast with its fangs already bared.

She makes it to him- somehow- and is an inch away from his desk. Tooru Hagakure is a mere desk away from Katsuki Bakugou. Tooru attempts to look at what he is reading on his phone when he suddenly places it on his desk, face-down. Tooru jolts as he moves, stretching, then turning to look out the window.

...Huh.

It was odd enough to see him making barely any noise. In a way, he's acting exactly like she is. Silent, barely moving, and just basking in the quietude.

It's almost as if he isn't there.

Tooru turns to check the time. There's still at least another hour before school starts, and that gets her wondering: what in the world is Katsuki Bakugou doing here so early? She could ask herself the same question, but she already has an answer.

She lifts an invisible brow. With regret filling her heart, she makes use of the old phrase, 'curiosity killed the cat.'

"Bakugou-kun?"

Katsuki yells in surprise, small explosions emitting from his hands. He nearly falls out of his chair before he catches himself on Deku's desk. Scurrying out of it, Katsuki gets in a fighting stance, eyes predatory, scanning the room frantically for whatever just spoke to him.

Tooru shrieks and briskly backs away, "B-Bakugou-kun, relax! It's me! It's just me!" Her hands are held up in surrender, despite Katsuki's inability to see her.

As her words flow, Katsuki's brows pinch at the source of the voice. There's nothing there- but he _knows_ that voice. More tiny crackles go off, Katsuki growling, "Who's there?!" to wherever the voice came from.

The ghost girl regrets her decision to speak. "It's me! I'm here, Bakugou-kun, please calm down!" The familiarity of her tone slowly descends Katsuki from the panic that shot through him. The crackling gradually silences as he scours his brain for the girl's identity.

"Where the hell are you?"

"Here," she says, taking an invisible step closer, "I'm right in front of you. It's me, Tooru...I-I'm so sorry for scaring you, Bakugou-kun, I-I didn't mean it! Honest!" Tooru's voice is high and racked with overwhelming fear, her knees knocking.

Katsuki frowns at the word and yells to the empty spot, "I wasn't scared!" causing Tooru to yelp and cower away. "First of all, Ghosty, what the hell are you doing here?!"

The girl stares at the floor as she trembles out, "I-I was...trying to…"

"And why the hell are you sneaking up on me?! How long have you been here?!"

"I-I wasn't!" she retorted. "I got here earlier…! I saw you come in, I-I didn't think anyone would be here this early!"

Silence follows after that. Generally, if it were Izuku or Shoto, they'd be dead by now. But it's her, Tooru Hagakure, who had succeeded in scaring the living daylights out of Katsuki Bakugou. She didn't even think it was possible to do such an act, and she starts to wonder why she hasn't been blasted yet.

"Really," she continues after nothing is said. "I'm so, so, so sorry! I-I swear I won't tell another living soul! I won't tell Tsuyu-chan about this, either! Or anyone! I swear!"

"Yeah, yeah," Katsuki scoffs as he sits back down, "I get it, so shut up."

She complies, going dead silent after his command. Like she disappeared. Katsuki is staring blankly at his desk, hands stuffed in the pockets of his low-hanging pants. Tooru sees him take a cautionary glance in her direction, but they always dart to random spots.

"Where are your clothes?"

Tooru is startled by the question. "Eh?"

"Your clothes," he repeats, louder, "why aren't you wearing anything, you pervert?"

"I'm not a pervert! I-I just-! I wanted to test something…! It's already ruined, though…!"

Katsuki looks unconvinced, "Just what in the goddamn world are you testing? Does it seriously require you being naked? What are you, a creep?"

"Excuse me," she barks back. "I forwarded this to Aizawa-sensei just yesterday! He knows what I'm doing and is fine with it! And," she takes a deep breath, "I was testing to see if anyone could tell I was here even though I'm completely hidden! It's my fault it's ruined because I spoke to you, though…" The realization of her mistake makes her curse internally.

Katsuki merely stares at the talking air. It takes him a moment to clearly understand her intentions, but it all makes sense in the end. "So you ruined your own plan," he mumbles, as if he thought it over carefully.

"Mm-hmm…" Tooru hums in shame. "Anyway, Bakugou-kun...what are you doing here?"

He side-eyes her in suspicion. "What's it to you?"

"Um- I was wondering, since school doesn't begin for another hour at most...it's pretty early, too."

He ponders whether he should say anything or not. He hates telling his own secrets, especially since this girl is someone he's never spoken a word to until now. Though, she did tell him why she was here so early. That wouldn't fair, would it? To keep your own secrets while someone else spills theirs to you...

That doesn't sound like something the #1 Hero would do.

"I like the silence."

There's no immediate response. He wondered if she actually left until she finally made a noise: "Huh?"

It confused her. The words 'Katsuki Bakugou' and 'silence' do not mix together no matter what sentence you put them in. They just don't work. Katsuki is dominant to everything around him- he's the leader of the pack, and no leader would ever have some time to enjoy the quietude.

Yet, here he is.

"I said, I like the silence. The class is nice and quiet whenever no one's here. Meaning, losers like you aren't around to annoy me. There, I told you."

She wasn't the least bit offended, but rather, astounded. Here she thought Katsuki was some loudmouth who had nothing better to do than threaten the people around him. Hearing that the quiet is enjoyable from him is incredible, really.

Perhaps there's more to him than she thought…

The sun has risen slightly over the horizon. Katsuki takes another look outside the window, staring distantly at the dawn. Tooru's gone quiet. Thinking back to it, her test doesn't sound too bad, but it doesn't sound too good, either. What if she gets caught? Rumors spread like wildfire nowadays.

"Oi, Ghosty."

"Huh?"

Katsuki's brows meet as he speaks, "I won't tell anyone about your plan."

Tooru's heart drops. Katsuki's words go in one ear and out the other, a huge wave of shock striking her. "W-What?"

"I'll keep your perverted plan a secret. Just don't tell anyone about what happened earlier."

Katsuki barely knows her, and she barely knows him. Hell, she didn't even know _he_ knew she existed before today. She managed to scare him, and he managed to scare her. That's the only thing they have in common right now. All she ever heard from him throughout the school year was a bunch of yelling, threats, and snide comments. Tooru never thought that Katsuki Bakugou, Lord Explosion Murder, could be so…

...nice.

Tooru Hagakure feels a huge, invisible smile coming across her invisible face. Next thing she knew, she's wrapped herself around his body, hugging him close- too close to his liking. "Thank you, Bakugou-kun! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Oi!" he shouts, hands fighting back against invisible arms. "Get away from me, you're naked!"

The ghost girl shrieks and immediately backs away, "Ahh! I'm so sorry, Bakugou-kun! I didn't mean to, I-I'm just so used to hugging people…!"

"Damn freak…"

Tooru pouts as the blush on her invisible face washes away. "But...still. Thank you, Bakugou-kun. I won't tell anyone on the planet about any of this. It'll be a secret between us, okay?"

His eyes roll, "Yeah, whatever."

The two of them end up waiting until the sun had fully risen from the horizon. School was starting, and very soon, their classmates would be arriving. Tooru thanked Katsuki one last time before she goes dead quiet and the classroom doors are open. Voices of their classmates invade the silence they were in, the usual chatter coming back like a distant memory.

Tooru watches from the sidelines. She's close to Katsuki, knowing this is the place where no one would even come in close proximity to her. She's safe here. Guarded, all for the purpose of this test. Her mouth smirks at the sight of Ochako and Mina waltzing in, having no idea she's here. She gives a giggle, this whole set-up gradually becoming a joke of some sort.

"Keep it down." Tooru ceases her laughter at the alien whisper of Katuski's voice, "You're going to get caught, idiot. Keep it down."

More students arrive. Hanta and Eijirou are quick to hit up a conversation with the explosive blonde with her, oblivious to the fact there's someone right next to him. She listens to their conversation, even paying closer attention to it than she thought she would have. 'Weird Hair' and 'Soy Sauce Face' give up and go to talk elsewhere.

"You're funny with your nicknames!" Tooru tells him quietly. She panics when Mezo and Kyouka perk up at her sentence. Luckily, Katsuki doesn't respond.

"Hey, kero," Tsuyu says, a finger pressed to her mouth, "Tooru-chan's missing."

Following her words, the rest of the girls join the search for Tooru Hagakure's floating uniform. "You're right!" Mina exclaims.

Katsuki's brow twitches.

Soon, Aizawa-sensei arrives and tells everyone to get in their seats. He says the usual- it took them six seconds flat to quiet down and get in their seats, what assignments are due, and finally, he takes roll call.

"Hagakure Tooru."

"Absent."

…

Aizawa's eyes dart to Katsuki, eerie silence between the two of them. Tooru's hands are clasped over her mouth, breathing nearly erratic- it almost looks as if Aizawa-sensei is staring right at _her_. She took a good look around the room. Izuku has a rather curious expression, judging by his lopsided brows. Everyone else seems generally unbothered by all this.

"Ghosty is absent," Katsuki adds.

Aizawa spends an extra moment looking at Katsuki. "Alright then. Tooru Hagakure is absent."

Tooru's heart steadies as she relaxes. "Thank you," she mutters into his ear.

Katsuki keeps his silence. He tells himself that Tooru Hagakure did not just whisper into his ear, because Tooru Hagakure is not even here. Like a wisp in the wind, she is a ghost.

Today, Tooru Hagakure is absent.

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**Wrote this in two hours! My quickest work yet! **

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Review and let me know what you think. I could never bring myself to write an mha fanfic until now. It's a fresh taste for me, and I might write a few more!**


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